The present disclosure generally relates to a system for a visually inspecting the inside of conduits, and more specifically, a system for visually inspecting the inside of pipes and boiler headers.
There are various kinds of equipment for inspecting the inside of pipes and other conduits that typically carry fluids. Since these conduits may corrode or develop cracks and other flaws, it is important to be able to inspect them. Visual inspection allows rapid identification of large sections of conduits to identify potential problem areas. It was determined that visual inspection of conduits is a quick way of identifying potential problems. These problem areas then can be inspected using additional inspection devices. Therefore, visual inspection is used as an initial inspection to detect generally where flaws may occur.
It is very important in some equipment, such as boilers that employ pipes that carry pressurized water and steam, to identify flaws before there they fail. A crack or flaw in one of these pressurized conduits can cause injury or fatality as well as significant damage to other equipment.
The inside of headers and associated waterwall pipes corrode and must be inspected. The headers are typically horizontal with vertical waterwall pipes extending from the horizontal header pipes. In a conduit that has a circular cross-section, all directions look similar, since there is no reference frame. Therefore, it is difficult to identify which direction the device is viewing solely from the camera image. This is especially true of symmetrical junctions, such as two pipes enter symmetrically from opposite sides of a conduit. Therefore, sometimes it is difficult to determine where the flaw is in a pipe.
Also, due to the geometry of some conduits, it is difficult to fully view the inside of various conduits. Even moveable cameras have a limit to their range of motion and it is difficult to view ahead of and to the sides of a device.
Currently, there is a need for a more versatile visual inspection device that can easily locate and identify problem areas inside of pipes.